


servant of one

by daisy_chains



Series: speak with honesty [6]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Constructive Criticism Welcome, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s04e06 A Servant of Two Masters, Gen, I Tried, Not Beta Read, partial reveal, post-episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 14:32:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15196820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisy_chains/pseuds/daisy_chains
Summary: "I tried to kill you."





	servant of one

“Sire?” Arthur looks up from his dinner plate, watching as his servant fidgets anxiously without meeting his eyes. He waits a few seconds before responding to see if the younger man will continue on his own, but he remains quiet.

“What is it, Merlin?” The raven-haired man spares him a fleeting glance, but seems all too interested in the wood pattern of the table to be considered normal. A moment passes in silence, then another. Arthur sets down his fork with a sense of resigned finality. “ _Merlin_.”

The noise that escapes the servant can only be described as something that would come from a wounded animal. Something that should never, _never_ come from Merlin. Not him, not on Arthur’s watch. Slowly, the king stands, careful not to alarm the man in front of him who looks all of two seconds away from bolting. Merlin stares, tears gathering in his eyes and that is the last straw.

“Come here,” Arthur orders gently, taking a few steps towards the servant and pulling him into an embrace when he refuses. “It’s alright, Merlin, you’re safe here. You know that.”

Merlin sinks into the king’s hold, dampening the shoulder of Arthur’s shirt as he starts to cry. A constant litany of whispered apologies accompanies the younger man’s gasping breaths.

“Merlin,” Arthur whispers, running one hand up and down the servant’s back soothingly, “what happened to you?”

They remain like this until Merlin’s breathing evens out and he pulls away, wiping at his wet cheeks. 

“I tried to kill you.” It takes a long moment for the king to understand what his friend has said, but nothing freezes his heart in his chest like this does. Arthur finds it hard to breathe.

“What?” 

“I - after the rockfall - the Valley of the Fallen Kings -” The servant cuts himself off, rubbing his eyes as a fresh wave of tears start to fall. “The mercenaries were sent by Morgana.”

“Merlin…” 

“She wasn’t pleased with me,” he says, snorting at the sheer understatement of his words. “And she enchanted me.”

“I’m sorry,” Arthur says. Merlin shakes his head, laughing humorlessly. 

“Wasn’t your fault. She hates me more than she does you, anyway,” he says as he starts to pace. If he notices Arthur’s slack jaw, he chooses not to comment. After a moment, the king puts a stop to his friend’s movement by pulling him into another embrace.

“It wasn’t your fault, either.”

**Author's Note:**

> I watched A Servant of Two Masters again recently and it has always bothered me that the show never let us see Merlin dealing with the aftermath of this in any matter other than the amusing scene with George since I believe he would've been more negatively affected than shown in canon, so I decided to fix it. Or at least try to fix it.


End file.
